First off: no one here is going to try and talk you out of two bikes ... :)
However, a single bike with an alternate set of bars isn't a bad idea at all. As suggested in the thread: down tube shifters are the way to go for ease of swapping without having to touch with your shifting set up. Center pull brakes also make for an easy quick change. My method is to have two complete bar & stem cockpits (an upright and a drop bar set up) - each with front and rear brake levers, cables, housings, ferrules and cable hangers intact. Once you get your fit and braking dialed in swapping really becomes a fairly no-nonsense 20 to 25 minute exercise thanks to a few turns of your barrel adjusters here and there. On Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 9:07:47 AM UTC-4 Ginz wrote: > I have a bike that swaps between Nitto Bullmoose and Albatross. Friction > shifting and mtb-style brake levers makes the swap very easy. > > Swapping between flat bar brake levers and drop levers is going to be more > fiddly because you will have to use cable splitters (with mtb levers you > can just slide the cable head out of the lever via the barrel adjuster's > slot provided your cable routing and housing length is similar for both > bars) and you will probably have to adjust the brake cable tension each > time you swap and make sure your brake pad clearence is good. > > From personal experience, I wouldn't want to swap bars more than once in a > while unless I really had a space limitation and extra time to plan my > rides. But, of course it can be done. > > Good Luck! > Ginz > > On Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 8:24:41 AM UTC-4 Johnny Alien wrote: > >> Let me suggest that you get yourself some albastache bars. I think you >> would feel comfortable in all of your scenarios with those handlebars. They >> are the secret weapon in Rivendell's offerings. >> >> On Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 8:14:04 AM UTC-4 erik.s...@gmail.com wrote: >> >>> >>> Answering on the practical side (easily swapping handlebars) rather than >>> the “should I own two bikes” side of things, Russ from Path Less Pedaled >>> did a video a while back on optimizing 1 bike for easy cockpit swaps. >>> Basically using a little Jagwire cable splitting doodad so the cables and >>> housing can mostly stay in place when swapping bars. It makes more sense if >>> your bike has full-length housing, but there may still be some nuggets in >>> there that are helpful. >>> >>> https://youtu.be/qj0qOyw_Es8?si=wKDJKxwHhdtKdBg0 >>> >>> Could be a good in-between option while you’re building up your second >>> bike ;) >>> >>> Erik, Philly >>> On Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 2:23:08 AM UTC-4 Michael wrote: >>> >>>> Looking for a single bike for casual rides on bike >>>> paths/paved/gravel/dirt roads with the occasional 100 mile ride thrown in. >>>> Will suggest the Sam Hillborne, which I'm leaning towards. I assumed I >>>> would build it with drops for the long rides but I recently fell in love >>>> with albatross bars for upright lazy bike path rides. >>>> Is there a way to quickly/easily swap handlebars or are two bikes >>>> inevitable? >>>> Would a Sam with drops and an appaloosa or atlantis w/ albatross be a >>>> good combo or is that too much overlap? >>>> >>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/cb50312f-13c0-441a-b3e2-31493a7564a2n%40googlegroups.com.
